Thursday, July 31, 2014

Introduced in 1964, the Bedford Beagle was an estate car conversion of the Bedford HA 8cwt van, which itself was based on the Vauxhall Viva HA. It initially was fitted with a mere 1057 cc engine and only had drum brakes all round, with minimal interior trim. It received minor engine upsizes in 1967 and 1972 before being discontinued the following year.

NEW YORK (CNN) – Your parents told you never to pick up hitchhikers,
but this is an exception. A robot is trying to hitchhike across Canada
by himself (herself or itself?). It’s called “Hitchbot” and its creators
started its journey by leaving him on the side of the road.
Hitchhikers often look a little shady. But have you ever seen one
this shade? You must literally pick up this Canadian hitchhiker named
“Hitchbot.” It can talk but not walk. Up until now, reporters have been
taking it for rides. Now the robot consisting of rubber boots, a bucket
body and a cake container head is on the road for real.
A robot hitchhiking solo almost 4000 miles from Halifax to Victoria
dependent on the kindness of strangers. Hitchbot is the brainchild of
two Canadian professors, Dr. David Smith and Dr. Frauke Zeller.

Two contemporary and four traditional sailing ships. The lower right one is labelled as a design for the mythial Argo, the ship on which Jason and the Argonauts sailed from Iolcos to retrieve the Golden Fleece, named after her builder, Argus. The stamp next to it could be also.

From a viral e-mail. US-oriented, but other first world countries will have the same trend. We don't agree with number 4, but NZ/A pubished books for the general market are certainly facing extinction. And in respect of 6, interestingly vinyl records are starting to make a comeback

The Post Office will continue to have (at least potentially) a major role in delivering parcels. UPS and FedEx are big competitors in the US but they aren't bargains on price.

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Whether these changes are good or bad depends in part
on how we adapt to them.

1. The Post Office

Get
ready to imagine a world without the post office. They are so deeply in
financial trouble there is probably no way to sustain it long term. Email, Fed
Ex, and UPS have just about wiped out the minimum revenue needed to keep the
post office alive. Most of your mail every day is junk mail and
bills.

2. The Cheque

Britain is already laying the groundwork to do away with cheques by 2018. It
costs the financial system billions of dollars a year to process cheques.
Plastic cards and online transactions will lead to the eventual demise of the
cheque. This plays right into the death of the post office. If you never paid
your bills by mail and never received them by mail, the post office would
absolutely go out of business.

3. The
Newspaper

The younger generation simply doesn't read the
newspaper. They certainly don't subscribe to a daily delivered print edition. It
will go the way of the milkman and the laundry man. As for reading the paper
online, get ready to pay for it. The rise in mobile Internet devices and
e-readers has caused all the newspaper and magazine publishers to form an
alliance. They have met with Apple, Amazon, and the major cell phone companies
to develop a model for paid subscription services.

4. The Book

You say you will never give up the
physical book you hold in your hand and turn the literal pages. I said the same
thing about downloading music from iTunes. I wanted my hard copy CD. But I
quickly changed my mind when I discovered I could get albums for half the price
without ever leaving home to get the latest music. The same thing will happen
with books.

You can browse a book store online and even read a
preview chapter before you buy. And the price is less than half
of a real book. And think of the convenience!

Once you start
flicking your fingers on the screen instead of the book, you find you are lost
in the story, can't wait to see what happens next, and you forget you're holding
a gadget instead of a book.

5. The Land Line Telephone

Unless you have a
large family and make a lot of local calls, you don't need it any
more.

Most people keep it simply because they've always had it.
But you are paying double charges for the extra service. All the cell phone
companies will let you call customers using the same cell provider for no charge
against your minutes .

6.
Music

This is one of the saddest parts of the change story. The
music industry is dying a slow death. Not just because of illegal downloading.
It's the lack of innovative new music being given a chance to get to the people
who would like to hear it. Greed and corruption is the problem. The record
labels and the radio conglomerates are simply self-destructing. Over 40% of the
music purchased today is "catalogue items," meaning traditional music the public
is familiar with, older established artists. This is also true on the live
concert circuit.

To explore this fascinating and disturbing
topic further, check out the book,

"Appetite for
Self-Destruction" by Steve Knopper, and the video documentary, "Before the Music
Dies."

7. Television

Revenues
to the networks are down dramatically. Not just because of the economy. People
are watching TV and movies streamed from their computers. And they're playing
games and doing lots of other things to take up the time usually spent watching
TV. Prime time shows have degenerated down to lower than the lowest common
denominator. Cable rates are sky-rocketing and commercials run about every 4
minutes and 30 seconds.

I say good riddance to most of it. It's
time for the cable companies to be put out of our misery. Let the people choose
what they want to watch online and through Netflix.

8. The "Things" You Own

Many of the very
possessions we used to own are still in our lives, but we may not actually own
them in the future. They may simply reside in "the cloud." Today your computer
has a hard drive and you store your pictures, music, movies, and documents. Your
software is on a CD or DVD, and you can always re-install it if need be. But all
of this is changing. Apple, Microsoft, and Google are all finishing up their
latest "cloud services." It means when you turn on a computer, the Internet will
be built into the operating system. So, Windows, Google, and the Mac OS will be
tied straight into the Internet.

If you click an icon, it will
open something in the Internet cloud. If you save something, it will be saved to
the cloud. And you may pay a monthly subscription fee to the cloud provider. In
this virtual world, you can access your music or your books, or your whatever
from any laptop or hand held device. This is the good news. But, will you
actually own any of this "stuff" or will it all be able to disappear at any
moment in a big "Poof?" Will most of the things in our lives be disposable and
whimsical? It makes you want to run to the closet and pull out a photo album,
grab a book from the shelf, or open up a CD case and pull out the
insert.

9. Joined
Handwriting

Already gone in some schools who no longer teach
"joined handwriting" because nearly everything is done now on computers or
keyboards of some type (pun not intended)

10.
Privacy

If there ever was a concept we can look back on
nostalgically, it would be privacy. It's gone. It's been gone for a long time
anyway.. There are cameras on the street, in most of the buildings, and even
built into your computer and cell phone. But you can be sure 24/7, "They" know
who you are and where you are, right down to the GPS coordinates, and the Google
Street View. The TV show "Person of Interest" isn't as far out as you may think.
If you buy something, your habit is put into a zillion profiles, and your ads
will change to reflect those habits.. "They" will try to get you to buy
something else. Again and again.

Age uncertain, but according to this webpage, "Horse-drawn vehicles and early buses and vans were originally
all-over chocolate, with black canvas tops where relevant and lettering
in either white (canvas) or gold (bus sides).
"The two-tone chocolate and cream colour was gradually introduced to
both horse-drawn and motorized vans and buses, and was fully standard
from 1923 onwards. This featured cream canvas tops and panelling above
the waist-line, and chocolate below."

However, the bus in the photo, dated 1907, looks the same type as in the poster.

A Class D Alco built 0-6-0 switcher at the St George terminal at the island's most northern point and where a ferry connects to Manhattan. Steam was replaced with third rail electricity in 1925. At the time the SIRT was owned by the Baltimore and Ohio.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

A total of 7 of these General Electric model E10B were acquired in 1952 by this 11-mile (19 km) shortline with numerous sidings, road numbers 14-20. The operation became part of Conrail on 1 April 1976 and NJ 20 was later Conrail 4756 whose electric operation was discontinued in 1983 and this unit was sold for scrap.

The completion of the tunnel under the English Channel (as the British call it) or La Manche (as the French call it) was significant in both historic terms and in transport terms as it became possible to move passengers and freight by rail without involving a ship between the two countries for the first time. At some 50 km and comprising two single track tunnels plus a third service tunnel, it was a substantial undertaking with inherent financial 'challenges' both during and following completion. But it made a big difference to the time involved in travelling between London and Paris/Brussels.

Plus a hood ornament :-) Produced by Intermeccanica of Turin, and distributed by Genser Forman of New Jersey, the Torino, later named Italia, was a low production volume sports car of the late 1960s, with sales around the 100 to 120 cars per year level. These cars were Ford V8 powered, with Ford running gear. Presented at the 1969 Turin Automobile Show, was this modified Italia, which conformed to Italian requirements and added a few features such as a rear movable airfoil. It remained a prototype.

A color film obviously intended for tourist promotion with an inevitable strong Nazi political propaganda component, but still a fascinating look at how it once was with trams, buses, S-Bahn trains and cars of the time.

The main building focused on that is no longer there is the Berliner Schloss (Palace) but recently it was decided to rebuild it in part. The new
building will have the cubature of the former palace and include
authentically reconstructed facades on three of the four sides of the
building, whereas the interior will be modern. The building, under the
name of Humboldtforum, is going to be finished sometime late this decade.

With world media focus on this tiny area yet again, this BBC webpage is an interesting analysis of Gaza.

Viewed from afar, it is pretty clear that if Gazans want to improve their lot, the first thing they need to do is get rid of Hamas, whose practice of regularly firing rockets into and sneaking through tunnels to conduct guerrilla raids in Israeli territory is hardly the way to establish good relations.

Gaza's other neighbor, Egypt has no time for Hamas either and has likewise imposed an economic blockade.

As everywhere else, even if you don't like your neighbor, you have to recognize their right to peaceful coexistence and an environment of mutual respect is needed.

The Sikorsky S40 four-engine clipper was produced in three units in 1931 for Pan Am, the largest commercial airliner of the time. The S-40s could carry 38 passengers, a significant increase over the predecessor S-38's
capacity of eight passengers. The aircraft featured a pantry with an
electric refrigerator and stove as well as beautifully appointed smoking
lounge with book-ended mahogany wood paneling. Six life rafts were
carried on board.
Despite the significant capacity increase, the S-40s were not the most
aerodynamic aircraft due in large part to the numerous flying wires and
strut braces that were used as an exterior support framework, hence the
nickname "Flying Forest". Only the three were built as Sikorsky was
designing (during the maiden flight of the S-40) and building the better S-42 as a replacement, introduced in 1934.

The ten S42 four-engine clippers were important for Pan American in developing its system of global routes. The S42 carried up to 37 day passengers or 14 sleeper berths plus 4 crew and had a gross laden weight of 38,000 lb (17,273 kg). It was used on Latin American, Atlantic and Pacific routes by the U.S. international airline. In 1935 a Pan Am Sikorsky S-42 flying boat took off from San Francisco in the
first commercial flight from the US mainland to Hawaii, landing 17
hours later. None has survived. more pics here

This was the first production car produced in China by the Shanghai Automobile assembly line on 28 September 1958, called Fenghuang (meaning Phoenix in English), primarily for upper-mid-level government officials. Few were produced. The Phoenix models are distinguished by round headlights and fins to the rear.

In 1964, the Phoenix name was changed to Shanghai SH760. In 1968 and 1974, the SH760 underwent a series of
cosmetic updates (SH760A and SH760B respectively). The final SH760 was
produced on 25 November 1991, after a total production run of 79,526
cars. Production peaked in 1984 at around 6,000 units. It was powered with 2.2 litre I6 engine I6 that was a copy of the Mercedes-Benz M127.

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All at Sea: stories of New Zealand seafarers

Narratives from interviews conducted over several years with 16 merchant navy sailors - 14 men and 2 women - who recounted their stories from the last full fledged sailing ship, the Pamir being returned to her home country of Finland after WWII to recent stories on today's inter-island ferries and coastal vessels, as well as international cargo and passenger ships which sailed to various parts of the globe. A full range of occupations are covered from Deck Boy, Engineer, Steward to Master as well as harbour pilots, union leaders and shipping company executives.

NZR Memorabilia

A fabulous new book containing many colourful illustrations of old postcards, pamphlets, posters, and a wide range of objects that have been used by the NZR and its personnel from the 1860s to the present time. Together they tell in visual form the importance of NZR to NZ and its people over the past 150 years and provides a useful reference for collectors.

Voyage to Gallipoli

Details of the troopships to the Gallipoli campaign of WW1 and more WW1 naval history.